The government have officially signed a new legislation that will give adopted people the right to access their original birth certificate.
The new law comes into effect after cabinet Ministers unanimously agreed to the proposals put before them at a meeting at Lissadell House in Co Sligo recently. The new law will come into effect immediately and will operate retrospectively, and will also apply to future adoptions. The news will most likely be welcomed by those who have been adopted who wish to find their birth parents, as it stands, adoptees are often refused from accessing certificates carrying their birth parents’ names because of legal and constitutional reasons.
The news was also welcomed by the Tánaiste Joan Burton who said the move was a major change. Ms Burton said: “Today we’ve actually addressed another long-standing issue of the old, and the more hidden Ireland in actually agreeing to allow people who’ve been adopted to trace their original birth certificate.